Communication and Interpersonal Skills

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Chapter 17

• Communication and Interpersonal Skills

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Planning Ahead Chapter 17

• What is the communication process?
• How can communication be improved?
• How does perception influence communication?
• How can we deal positively with conflict?
• How can we negotiate successful agreements?

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What is the Communication Process?

• Communication.
• An interpersonal process of sending and receiving
  symbols with messages attached to them.
• Key elements of the communication process
• Sender.
• Message.
• Communication channel.
• Receiver.
• Interpreted meaning.
• Feedback.

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What is the Communication Process?

• Sources of noise in communication
• Poor choice of channels.
• Poor written or oral expression.
• Failure to recognize nonverbal signals.
• Physical distractions.
• Status effects.

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Interactive Two-Way Process of Interpersonal
Communication

• Noise
• Semantic problems
• Absence of feedback
• Improper channels
• Physical distractions
• Status effects
• Cultural differences

Receiver
Sender
Decodes Perceived meaning
Encodes Intended meaning
Message Channel
Feedback/Channel
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What is the Communication Process?

• Effective and efficient communication
• Effective communication
• Occurs when the intended meaning of the sender is
  identical to the interpreted meaning of the
  receiver.
• Efficient communication
• Occurs at a minimum resource cost.
• Potential trade-offs between effectiveness and
  efficiency must be recognized.

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What is the Communication Process?

• Persuasion and credibility in communication.
• Communication is used for sharing information and
  influencing other people.
• Persuasion is getting someone else to support the
  message being presented.
• Horizontal structures and empowerment are
  important contexts for persuasion.

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What is the Communication Process?

• Persuasion and credibility in communication
  (cont.).
• Expert power and referent power are essential for
  persuasion.
• Credibility involves trust, respect, and
  integrity in the eyes of others.
• Credibility can be built through expertise and
  relationships.

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Improving Communications

• Active listening.
• The process of taking action to help someone say
  exactly what he or she really means.
• Rules for active listening
• Listen for message content.
• Listen for feelings.
• Respond to feelings.
• Note all cues, verbal and nonverbal.
• Paraphrase and restate.

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Improving Communication

• Feedback.
• The process of telling others how you feel about
  something they did or said, or about the
  situation in general.
• Constructive feedback guidelines
• Give it directly.
• Make it specific.
• Give it when the receiver is willing/able to
  accept it.
• Make sure it is valid.
• Give it in small doses.

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Communication Channels

• HIGH
• RICHNESS
• Personal
• Two-way
• Slow

• LOW
• RICHNESS
• Impersonal
• One-way
• Fast

Postings, E-bulletins
E-mail, Voice mail
Telephone, E-meetings
Face-face meetings
Memos, Letters
Richness of Communication Channel
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The Perception Process

• Perception.
• The process through which people receive and
  interpret information from the environment.
• People can perceive the same things or situations
  differently.
• People behave on the basis of their perceptions.

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The Perception Process

• Perceptual tendencies and distortions
• Stereotypes.
• Occur when someone is identified with a group or
  category, and then oversimplified attributes
  associated with the group or category are used to
  describe the individual.
• Halo effects.
• Occur when one attribute is used to develop an
  overall impression of a person or situation.

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The Perception Process

• Perceptual tendencies and distortions (cont.)
• Selective perception.
• The tendency to single out for attention those
  aspects of a situation or attributes of a person
  that reinforce or appear consistent with ones
  existing beliefs, values, or needs.
• Projection.
• The assignment of personal attributes to other
  individuals.

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Conflict Communication

• Conflict.
• A disagreement between people on
• Substantive issues.
• Emotional issues
• Conflict that is well managed can help promote
  creativity and high performance.

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Conflict Communication

• Functional conflict.
• Moderately intense conflict.
• Constructive and stimulates people toward greater
  work efforts, cooperation, and creativity.
• Dysfunctional conflict.
• Low-intensity and very high-intensity conflict.
• Destructive and hurts task performance.

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Conflict Communication

• Causes of conflict
• Role ambiguities.
• Resource scarcities.
• Task interdependencies.
• Competing objectives.
• Structural differentiation.
• Unresolved prior conflicts.

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Conflict Communication

• Structural approaches for resolving conflicts
• Appealing to superordinate goals.
• Making more resources available.
• Changing the people.
• Altering the physical environment.

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Conflict Management Styles

• Avoidance (withdrawal).
• Uncooperative and unassertive.
• Accommodation (smoothing).
• Cooperative and assertive.
• Competition (authoritative command).
• Uncooperative and assertive.
• Compromise.
• Moderately cooperative and assertive.
• Collaboration (problem solving).
• Cooperative and assertive.

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Conflict Communication

• Conflict management styles
• Lose-lose conflict.
• Management by avoidance or accommodation.
• Win-lose conflict.
• Management by competition and compromise.
• Win-win conflict.
• Management by collaboration.

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Negotiation

• Negotiation is the process
• of making joint decisions
• when the parties involved
• have different preferences.
• All negotiation situations are susceptible to
  conflict
• and require exceptional communication and
  interpersonal skills.

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Criteria for Effective Negotiation

• Quality.
• Negotiating a wise agreement that is truly
  satisfactory to all sides.
• Cost.
• Negotiating efficiently, using minimum resources
  and time.
• Harmony.
• Negotiating in a way that fosters interpersonal
  relationships.

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Negotiation

• Gaining agreements
• Separate the people from the problem.
• Focus on interests, not on positions.
• Generate many alternatives before deciding what
  to do.
• Insist that results are based on some objective
  standard.

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Dispute Resolution

• Mediation
• Involves a neutral third party who tries to
  improve communication between negotiating parties
  and keep them focused on relevant issues.
• Arbitration
• Involves a neutral third party who acts as a
  judge and issues a binding decision.

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Chapter 17 Review

• What is the communication process?
• How can communication be improved?
• How does perception influence communication?
• How can we deal positively with conflict?
• How can we negotiate successful agreements?